PROJECT SUMMARY The goal of the Center?s Pilot Project Program is to support EHD research in new and emerging topic areas, by encouraging researchers across multiple disciplines to think about how their areas of expertise could be combined to produce novel insights and advances in this field. We aim to support projects that, through innovative approaches or new collaborative structures, can evolve into independently funded efforts through research and/or demonstration. We recognize the value of conducting interdisciplinary and multidisciplinary research across various communities that experience disparities in environmental exposures and health. We will specifically encourage submission of project proposals that would enhance our field and analytical efforts (including activities in the Center target communities of Chelsea and Dorchester, Massachusetts), utilize Center datasets in novel ways, test methods developed within the Center within new communities, or develop and apply new methods that would inform EHD issues under study within the Center. Our pilot project request for applications will be an open call, but we will explicitly encourage multidisciplinary applications that are synergistic with Center themes and activities, and we will emphasize each year the thematic areas and infrastructure that could be leveraged by applicants. The Pilot Project Program has three Specific Aims: (1) support collaborative, cross-disciplinary EHD research in new and emerging topic areas within the target communities of Chelsea and Dorchester; (2) support the application of methods and approaches to address EHDs across a wide range of underserved communities in the United States, via a national network of researchers; and (3) provide seed funding that, along with the Center?s resources and mentorship from Center investigators, will allow junior investigators the chance to maximize opportunities for collaborative research and independent funding in new and emerging topic areas within EHD research. This infrastructure will provide high-value resources to investigators looking to take the initial steps from novel hypotheses to new and fundable proposals.